On ages and stages (Inspired by Seven Up!)

Pictured: NOT me

Author's note: In the spirit of extremely sporadic writing on random topics here is another fleeting hodgepodge of brain articulations (or ejaculations -not the naughty kind) written between 12.00am-1.45am on Monday 3 June, 2013.

This blog is NOT brought to you by Pepsi (who make 7Up), although I did consume other stimulants during it's production ;)

Aging - something we all go through and something consumers of beauty products spend billions of dollars attempting to fight. Love your tight, well-defined young skin? Well - aging doesn't care much for your vanity! 

During the process of aging your skin gradually separates from your bones and heads south. As much as you might wish you were like Peter Pan and stayed forever young- aging will relentless stalk you and when it does eventually catch up - it will take your looks, body and faculties and make them all just a bit worse. Oh sure, some things will get better - you'll get a bit of wisdom and some people might call you a silver fox (if you're lucky). But if youth is the opening act, getting old is the third and final act and the prelude to the end - death.

I haven't felt the ravages of age too much yet and thank fuck for that. At 25, I should be in good health.

On this topic, if you haven't already check out the  brilliant documentary series - Seven Up!

How to age both gracefully and disgracefully

Why should you watch Seven Up!

If you are someone who like me thinks a bit about life and your general direction this is a really interesting look at how people's choices and circumstances affect the direction of their lives.

The Up series began in Britain in 1964. It interviewed a group of 14 seven-year-old children from different locations and socioeconomic backgrounds. The original intent seems to have been critically examining the class system in Britain (and public vs comprehensive education) and how it affected the opportunities and lives of the children they follow.


Up is now into it's 5th decade and in 2012, 56 Up was released.

I find it perversely fascinating to survey someones life in short seven year snapshots. We get to see them as cute little seven years old, shy teenagers, in their thirties as parents and now as people in their middle age moving towards retirement. While it's not a complete picture of their existence, it's a glimpse and that's all we need.

Up! participants have had varied and interesting careers: teachers,  a lawyer, a nuclear physicists,  a vagrant turned local politician, a stay-at-home Mum and so on.

During University I became obsessed and watched from 7 Up til 49 Up in a few days. Each of the eight iterations is about 2 hours long.

What I found particularly interesting was looking at what people predicted they'll do in the future vs what they actually end up doing. E.g At 21, one of the ladies says: "I don't want to have children." Nek minit (seven years later) she had two babies running around. It's fairly obvious that our plans change and lives often go in a completely different ways than we might have expected. 

I enjoy people expressing their ambitions and thoughts on life. At 56, some of the adults talk of frustration about things that didn't work out as well as they'd like. Some have had multiple marriages, most had children of their own and many had grandchildren also. One subject moved to Australia when he was young so between 7 Up! in 1964 and 14 Up! in 1971 his accent changed from a cutesy English lilt to an Ozzie twang.

When reflecting on their lives, nearly all the participants emphasised the importance of friends and family in their overall sense of purpose and happiness.

If you strip away all the other factors in your life: work, money, influence, ambition, pride, lust - the most important thing left is your relationships with others. We all depend on each other to get through life and having close friends and loved ones to be there and support you is most important than can be put into words.

The subjects' of Seven Up!

I have spent a lot of life in my head imagining things that I'd like to do or things I could do "if only (insert circumstance)."

If there is one lesson I take overall from the show is making the most of opportunities. A wise person once told me that one thing you notice as you age is you increasingly live with the impact of decisions you made in the past. (Basically - some doors are closed to you as you age)

I just hope I make the right choices and don't end up old and full of regret. Currently I think I'd doing alright.

So what's changed for me in the last seven years:

*Where I live:

Then: Dunedin
Now: Wellington (with a year overseas in the interim)

Who I date:

Then: F (nearly two years together)
Now: W (nearly three years together)

What I do:

Then: Start of second year of university at Otago (Politics and Film)
Now: Work for Victoria University as a Liaison Officer (with many jobs and travel in between)

That's just things on the surface.

Some of my views are different, I've travelled, I learned a foreign language, sky dived, learned to Scuba etc. My body changed - I filled out.

I'm really not sure what I'll be doing in another 7 years and that's kind of exciting. If there's one thing I wish, it's that I still have a full head of hair in 2020. 

Six years passed. January 2007 and January 2013. Things with the penguin just didn't work out..

One last thing, if you want to see a film a superb movie tackling the choices we make in life and how they affect us - check out Mr Nobody.

Finding your place in the world

A slightly existential post to cap the year off. 


As the year draws to a close and we all take one further step towards oblivion, it is timely to reflect on the year that was and think about lessons we have learnt.

Otago University - where I studied and got my B.A has an advertising campaign which uses the slogan: "Find your place in the world."

A little over three years after graduating my B.A at Otago, and two years since my PgDip at Canterbury, I'm still searching for mine.

I haven't yet decided the career I want to pursue or even the city I want to live in.

2011 was a massive news year. Here were some of the big stories:


*A lot of powerful bastards fell of their perches: Gaddafi, Kim Jong-Il, Osama etc.
*There were revolutions all over the show: Libya, Syria, Egypt, Tunisia and other countries in the middle East.
*The war in Iraq drew to a close.
*Big Natural disasters in Japan, Thailand, New Zealand, Australia and elsewhere.
*The GFC grinded on. The world economic outlook continues to be a bit gloomy.
*The downfall of Rupert Murdoch and his disgusting publications' antics.
*All Blacks won the Rugby World Cup.
*John Key is still the Prime Minister of New Zealand.
*Labour got a new leader.

While there was plenty of transition, lots of stuff stayed the same. The world has not yet collectively got together to stop climate change or tackle inequality. As a species, are we moving towards a better future? Or are we just continuing to make the same mistakes that got us into trouble in the first place?

2011 taught me a lot. I've met a lot of people. Been to a lot of countries. Spent a lot of hours in transit. Did some study in Indonesia. Had my own apartment. Went back to living with my parents, was briefly on the unemployment benefit. Moved to Christchurch. Got a job with the Earthquake Commission. Had long periods in a long-distance relationship and, of course, pondered my own existence quite a bit.

The year finished on a low-key note: in an office, working an incredibly boring job and contemplating throwing my computer and then myself out the window (although it's only a two-story building so I'd probably just get moderate injuries).

It's an inane question, but sometimes you have to ask: what does it all mean?  If I rationalise all the individual elements of my life - I feel grateful for what I have. Compared to many in the world, I live a blessed existence. People in New Zealand have got it pretty good in a lot of ways.

Still.. there's that creeping sense that I'm just already going through the motions. I have the feeling that a lot of people are in the same boat.
I guess I don't feel I yet have any purpose.

For all my travels and experience - I haven't yet found what it is I feel I'm meant to be doing.
Perhaps there is no one thing that any of us is meant to do. Our experiences and education will shape the choices we make and a lot of people just fall into something.

I like this definition

You have to motivation towards a goal to function as a human. Without a sense of purpose. Everything can seem a bit pointless.

At the moment my goals are centered around paying off my student loan, finding a good job and travelling some more in future. That's enough to keep the wheels of my life turning. Money alone is not a huge motivator.

I don't like the sense that you are just plodding through life. If every day is just another 24 hours passed where you do the same shit you did yesterday, what the hell is the point?

Just work a job, save some money, buy some stuff, pop out some kids so they can do the same?
I don't have any belief in god or life after death. I believe we make our own meaning.

This article talks about "satificers" vs "maximisers." I probably fall into the latter category and agonise a bit about making the right decision about my life. It means that you often second guess the decisions you've made and as a result, don't feel as satisfied overall. How many others are out there think like that?

At the end of the day - you have to get on with it, right? But I'm often left thinking about what would bring me a sustained sense of satisfaction with my life.

I had a lot of good times this year and achieved some of my New Years resolutions. I haven't yet scuba dived. I did hit the gym a lot, take some protein powder and reach my goal weight (heavier rather than lighter), I studied Indonesian for a while and lived with my girlfriend for a period too.

I finish with quotes from two giant figures who died in 2011. Steve Jobs and Christopher Hitchens.

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important."
- Steve Jobs

"The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism. It is not a creed. Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise and the dread of Hell. Life on this earth, with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then to be lived far more intensely: we stumble and get up, we are sad, confident, insecure, feel loneliness and joy and love. There is nothing more; but I want nothing more." - Christopher Hitchens


Here is to a positive 2012. Happy New Year everyone!